The present invention relates to a steering control device comprising a shaft for operative attachment to a steering system, said shaft rotatably mounted on a housing, a pinion gear means mounted on said shaft to rotate therewith, said housing including a hub member, with a hole therethrough for rotatable passage of said shaft, an indicator disc rotatably mounted on said hub coaxial with said shaft, an idler gear rotatably mounted on said disc, said pinion gear meshing with and driving said idler gear about a ring gear means outward of and surrounding and meshing with said pinion gear in response to the rotation of said shaft, said idler gear thereby driving said indicator disc.
The operation of certain vehicles requires that the steering mechanism be remote from the steering means such as the rudder or the like and therefore it is desirable to have some means or form indicating to the operator of the vehicle or boat the position of the steering means relative to the "amidship's" position of the vehicle. For example, in marine applications a rudder is typically provided rearwardly of the boat whether forming a part of an outboard motor or as a part of an inboard driving system. In such position, the operator, when operating the boat, is unable to visually determine the rudder position from time to time. There are times that he must be fully aware of the position of the rudder, for without that knowledge damage or serious injury might result upon the starting and shifting of the drive engine. specifically, if the boat is dockside, that is, adjacent to a dock facility, and the rudder is positioned hard over, starting and shifting of the motor could send the boat directly into the dock causing damage to the boat itself and possible personal injury to its occupants. Similarly, the operator should know, on a timely basis, the position of the rudder in an open sea condition. If, for example, the rudder is positioned at one extreme or the other, starting and shifting of the engine may easily result in capsizing which in itself could result in serious injury. Further, in adverse weather conditions and when navigating by compass or other means, it is particularly helpful to the operator to know the general relative position of the rudder in relation to the compass reading.
There are numerous prior art devices for indicating the position of a boat rudder with respect to a boat steering wheel. However, these devices are extremely complicated and unreliable and require a great number of gears, cables and other mechanical linkages to link the rudder system to this steering wheel. These devices, because of the great number of parts involved, are typically expensive to manufacture, install and to maintain.
Typical prior art examples are to be found in U.S. Pat. No. 1,173,680 to Peters, et. al.; U.S. Pat. No. 1,517,760 to Slonecker; U.S. Pat. No. 2,845,893 to Eshbaugh, et. al., and U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,390 to Boda. Each of these patents represent complex mechanisms to present to the operator a relative position indicator of the steering system which is being manipulated by that operator. Each of these prior art approaches include a number of intermeshing gears being driven or responsive to the movement of the shaft to which the steering or mechanism is attached. Each of these prior art approaches through their complexity could actually cause jamming of the steering system or train which defeats the entire purpose of the device. That is, each of these prior art approaches introduces a potential for a jamming of the steering systems to which they are operatively attached.
Another example of an unsuitable form of a rudder position indicating means is to be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,165,088 to Hill, et. al. This patent discloses a rudder position utilizing a weight means to denote a reference point. While this particular device may not interfere with the steering system with which it is associated, it will, however, give relatively unreliable readings.